St. Paul's looks to repeat as Division I boys soccer state champion

Even though his last goal could have been the most famous in St. Paul’s soccer history, Will Gutterman wasn’t going to let a little thing like a stress fracture in his back be the final one of his prep career.

Ditto for Danielle Daigle of Mount Carmel letting a knee injury still unhealed more than two years later do the same thing to her.

For Gutterman and Daigle, both seniors, there only one place to be today – on the field at Tad Gormley Stadium when the Wolves face Jesuit for the Division I boys state championship following the Cubs’ match against St. Scholastica for the Division I girls title.

“They told me it would be six months before I could play again,” said Gutterman, whose condition was diagnosed in October. “I didn’t have that long.

“I wasn’t going to miss my senior season.”

And Gutterman, who had the game winner in last year’s 2-1 title victory against Jesuit, didn’t – returning in January to reclaim his midfielder spot.

Daigle was in similar straits.

She had suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn meniscus in a December, 2009 match against Dominican when she was a sophomore.

That caused Daigle to miss the rest of the reason, including the Cubs’ loss to St. Scholastica in the state title match. Then, complications kept Daigle out all of last year, including a semifinal loss to the Doves at which was prepared to suit up until her father told her he’d pull her off the field himself if she tried to play.

Even this season, Daigle has sat out matches which the Cubs didn’t really need her to try to avoid reinjuring her left knee on which she wears a heavy brace.

In fact, the whole season for Mount Carmel (29-3) seems to have been one to get another shot at the Doves.

“We beat them in the regular season both times the last two years and were seeded No. 1 but lost to them in the playoffs,” said Cubs’ senior defender Zoe Perret. “We’re not going to let that happen again.”

As was the case the past two years, Mount Carmel won the regular-season meeting between the two, 4-2, handing the Doves (20-1-1) their only defeat.

But unlike the last two years, the Cubs came into these playoffs seeded fourth.

“I think being No. 4 keeps you from having an ego about yourselves.” Perret said. “We knew we’d have to work our way through the playoffs.

“We’ve competed hard and now we’re back. It’s like a dream come true.”

This is St. Scholastica’s fourth straight championship game appearance.

The Doves won the 2009 and 2010 titles, but lost to Dominican, 2-0, last year.

But senior midfielder Kim Moreau said the team has taken nothing for granted, as was shown in the emotion the Doves displayed after beating Dominican, 2-1, in the semifinals.

“We’ve kind of gone from this one to the next one to the next one,” she said. “But we’d just tied Dominican the first time, so everybody knew it could go either way.

“Then we were behind most of the game so when there was so much relief because we knew all of our hard work had paid off.”

And even though the Doves lost to the Cubs earlier this season, giving up a season high goals allowed, senior defender Lindsay Achary said that shouldn’t matter this time.

“That was pretty early,” said Achary, the only returning starter in a revamped defensive back for the Doves. “We’re a different team from the beginning of the season to the middle to the end.

“I think we’re going to be more ready for them than we were the last time.”

Gutterman famously followed his goal against Jesuit in last year’s title match by leading his teammates in a Lambeau Leap-type charge off the field even thought four minutes remained.

And while his back condition doesn’t preclude a repeat should something similar happen again tonight, he said he isn’t sure what he would do again, save for trying a few handsprings.

“I don’t think I expected it to go in,” Gutterman said. “It was a pretty exciting moment and we were all so excited.”

St. Paul’s 2-1 victory ended Jesuit’s 94-match unbeaten streak and ended the Blue Jays’ quest for a third straight state title.

The teams haven’t met this season, having been rained out in a tournament at Baton Rouge and then having missed each other when the Wolves (22-1-1) lost to Brother Martin the semifinals of the St. Paul’s Tournament.

But it’s not like the top-seeded Blue Jays (26-1-4) have been particularly itching to gain revenge.

In fact, to Jesuit forward Kyle Wilson, it’s less important who the Jays are playing today than the fact that they’re back in the title match.

“We’re playing for the state championship for ourselves and our school,” said Wilson, who scored the game-winning goal in Jesuit’s 3-2 semifinals victory against St. Thomas More. “We’ve pushed ourselves in practice every day to get back here.